METRO VANCOUVER – The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is investigating 148 allegations of misconduct including corruption against 17 officers with the Abbotsford police department.

Commissioner Stan Lowe hasn’t disclosed the details of the allegations, but he noted that they are serious and include accusations of corrupt practice, deceit and neglect of duty.

Two years ago, Abbotsford Chief Constable Bob Rich found out that Const. Christopher Nicholson, a member of the APD, was allegedly engaged in criminal activity.

Lowe says Rich asked the Vancouver police to conduct an external criminal investigation into the allegations. The VPD then raised concerns related to the findings of the investigation with the OPCC.

On May 6, 2013, Nicholson was arrested and charged with 10 criminal offences which included breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance.

Nicholson, 41 was suspended and his badge was seized.

Rich said he believed that Nicholson had lied to judges about the information that he was obtaining from confidential informants.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu said last May that the investigation at it peak involved dozens of officers, including senior members with homicide and gang experience. He added that false information allegedly provided by Nicholson to judges was used to get warrants for searches of private dwellings.

Nicholson also allegedly conspired with a confidential informant to have drugs delivered to a residence and have other police officers conduct a search warrant soon after.

Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said the department has been working cooperatively with the OPCC investigation.

“In fact, a pretty strong argument can be made that we were the ones that started this. The whole Chris Nicholson thing was brought to light by the APD. We were the agency…that asked for the external investigation to begin, initially looking at the criminal ramifications of what we suspected in relation to Nicholson. We have clearly been willing participants all along the way,” MacDonald said.

He said there has been a lot of back and forth with the OPCC during the investigation and that changes have already been made to areas of concern to investigators.

“When some of the specific points were highlighted as concerning, we began internally working with police services to remedy those things,” he said. “I know that in the OPCC statement, there’s some stuff in there about search warrants. The first thing we started doing is auditing our practices, revamping some of the protocols and then rolling that out in new forms of training. We haven’t been stationary as this has been going on.”

MacDonald said the status of the officers under investigation varies at present. He didn’t have specifics of the officers involved.

“Despite being under a fair amount of stress, we have continued to put our primary function of public safety as our number one,” MacDonald said.

There are currently 220 officers on the force.

“I know and I entirely believe in the integrity of this organization. And I think at the end of this total net review, the public will again not have any concerns about the integrity of the organization,” MacDonald said. “We have to go through this process and we are prepared to go through this process and we understand it may be stressful and painful along the way.”

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun, who chairs the police board, said he was briefed on the Nicholson investigation by Abbotsford Chief Bob Rich in December.

Braun said that while he understands the general concern over the information released Wednesday, people should wait for the final report before jumping to conclusions.

“It’s important to remember that this investigation began with the Abbotsford Police Department officers,” Braun said.

“I really believe that fact alone speaks volumes about the integrity of the Abbotsford Police Department.”

Braun said he supports “a thorough investigation.”

“I have complete faith in the Office of the Police Complaints Commission. I also have faith in the Abbotsford Police Department,” he said. “I do want to caution the public not to rush to judgment.”